Governor charged with stealing Sh381 million

Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko with his lawyers Cecil Miller and Dan Maanzo at Milimani anti-corruption court where he pleaded not guilty to corruption charges. [George Njunge, Standard]

Governor Mike Sonko Monday faced possibly the worst day of his controversial career as the prosecution divulged the alleged conspiracy he used to defraud the county of millions of shillings.

Sonko’s past criminal records and an alleged escape from prison also returned to haunt him as Anti-Corruption Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti sent him to the Industrial Area Remand Prison after the prosecution opposed his application to be released on bail.

The governor faced a total of 19 charges in two separate files, with the prosecution claiming that he conspired with rogue business people and senior county government officials to embezzle more than Sh380 million from the county coffers.

Through a secretive chain using his proxies, Sonko is said to have received kickbacks into his personal accounts totalling Sh39 million as a reward for awarding multi-million shilling contracts to companies that traded with the county government.

The charges against him ranged from conspiracy to commit an offence of corruption, conflict of interest to money laundering, and acquisition of proceeds of crime.

“Between May 24, 2018 and March 28, 2019 in Nairobi City County, being the governor, you jointly conspired with the co-accused to commit an offence of corruption namely embezzlement of public funds in the sum of Sh357,390,229 from Nairobi City County Government,” read the charge sheet.

In the second file, the governor alongside Fredrick Odhiambo, Web Tribe Ltd, Danson Muchemi, Robert Muriithi, Zablon Onyango, ROG Security Ltd and Anthony Otieno were accused of embezzling Sh24.1 million through a contract for an electronic revenue collection and payment solutions.

An affidavit filed in court by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) revealed that an analysis of Sonko’s bank accounts showed he received Sh27.4 million from three companies trading with his government, and which had been awarded contracts under questionable circumstances.

Massive fraud

“Between June 2017 and February 2019, investigations have revealed massive fraud, procurement irregularities, misappropriation of public funds and conflict of interest through inconsistent and exaggerated payments made to individuals and proxy companies at City Hall,” said the EACC.

On investigations over an alleged fraudulent garbage collection contract with Hardi Enterprises Ltd, EACC stated that the county secretary, a Sonko appointee, usurped his powers and hurriedly appointed a committee to award the contract.

Between October 2018 and March 2019, the anti-graft body stated, Hardi Enterprises Ltd received a total of Sh357 million from the county for purported solid waste collection and disposal.

EACC claimed that the directors of Hardi Enterprises Ltd – Anthony Mwaura and Rose Njeri – transferred Sh55.8 million to the accounts of Toddy Civil Engineering Company Ltd before the money found its way to Sonko’s personal accounts.

“The commission established that Toddy Civil Engineering Company Ltd transferred Sh3 million to Sonko’s account at Equity Bank, and that the amount could be traced to have been a kickback from the garbage collection contract,” swore EACC investigator Simon Cherpka.

Mr Cherpka said an analysis of Sonko’s bank statements at KCB revealed that prior to awarding the contract for garbage collection, he received Sh8.6 million from Mwaura to fund his 2017 campaign and settle debts.

Sonko also allegedly received Sh17 million from AMACO Ltd, Sh8.4 million from Yiro Enterprises Ltd and Sh2 million from Web Tribe Ltd at a time the companies were conducting business with the county government through various contracts.

This was the reason why the governor faced 10 additional charges of conflict of interest, with the prosecution alleging that he received millions of shillings through ROG Security Ltd in a bid to conceal traces of money laundering.

The charge sheet revealed that the money would be deposited into the governor’s personal accounts in small tranches of Sh1 million at different bank branches to avoid raising suspicion.

“On January 19, 2019, being governor of Nairobi, knowingly acquired an indirect interest in the contract for electronic revenue collection issued to Web Tribe Ltd by receiving Sh1 million at your Equity Bank Kenyatta Avenue Branch through ROG Security Ltd,” read the charge sheet.

Escape custody

The prosecution led by James Kihara and Victor Owiti opposed Sonko’s release on bail, saying he had a past record of escaping from custody.

Mr Kihara argued that Sonko was a dangerous man who was likely to interfere with witnesses, use his influential position to scare junior staff set to testify against him, and would likely flee from the court’s jurisdiction due to the serious nature of the offences.

“He escaped from Shimo La Tewa Prison and has a pending criminal case in Mombasa. He has also been convicted for absconding court proceedings, which shows he is a dangerous man who should not be released on bail,” said Kihara.

But Sonko’s lawyer, Cecil Miller, pleaded with Mr Ogoti to release the governor on bail, saying there were no compelling reasons to warrant his detention.

According to Mr Miller, Sonko had been cleared of all pending criminal cases. He also claimed that the governor needed urgent medical attention to treat a rib that was allegedly broken in an altercation with police officers during his dramatic arrest last Friday.

“The narrative that he is a dangerous criminal who will run away if released is not true. We do not understand why his criminal records of 20 years ago are being brought up now when he was issued with a certificate of good conduct and cleared to vie for elective positions,” said Miller.

Other accused charged alongside the governor are Mwaura, Njeri, Peter Mbugua, Patrick Mwangangi, Wambua Ndaka, Andrew Nyasiego, Samuel Mwangi, Edwin Kariuki, Lawrence Mwangi and Preston Mwandiki.

The magistrate ordered that the suspects be remanded until tomorrow when he will rule on their application for bail.